“Vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!” The first reading from Ecclesiastes warns the pursuit of things consumes the fool. Lost in the consumption is our soul. Jesus tells a parable of a soul so very foolishly consumed, “A rich man, whose land produced a bountiful harvest” ponders, ‘What shall I do?’ ‘I shall build larger barns.’” With “so many good things stored up for years, (I shall) eat, drink, be merry.” “But God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’”
Ahh, the things that consume us and the cost to us to be so consumed. The cost is not only money but loved ones and our very selves; our character, our soul. The concern is that people being foolishly consumed by lesser things is getting worse. It is the concern of Stuart Ewen ever since his 1971 ground breaking book Captains of Consciousness. Ewen is a Professor of Film & Media Studies, and, like Ecclesiastes and Jesus, is concerned about capitalism’s consumption of our soul. Ewan speaks of capitalism having colonized the American identity. It is done in much the same way business colonized any indigenous people; reconnaissance, invasion, occupation, assimilation. If the four stages sound like a military operation its because that is how it all began. 1) The reconnaissance began with Wall Street millionaires crafting WWI for greater plunder (J.P. Morgan). They bought men for their advertising ranks to coerce men they wanted to buy for their military ranks. The admen formed the ‘Public Relations’ (PR) division of capitalism. They reconnoitered that branding U.S. dissenters from WWI as cowards could increase the likelihood of war and its plunder. 2) The warrior PR division then invaded the American mind so that compliant and conformist citizens would invade the European continent. PR’s invasion relied on two weapons – propaganda and censorship; bias favoring the warrior was matched with bias silencing dissenters. Many citizens consumed the bullet points and went to war. 3) The transition from invasion to occupation, of the American mind, happened after WWI ended. The capitalist war plunderers turned their two weapons of propaganda and censorship on the American people, full force. Propaganda meant that not only did Captains of Consciousness, aka capitalists, sell business products, even an image, a lifestyle – they sold capitalism – as a savior. Capitalism saves us from bad breath, bad fashion, even bad values – bad for capitalism. Capitalists therefore censored wisdom; wisdom to discern simplicity, healthy living, the integrity of nature, and world peace. Each is still censored. The capitalists occupied the American mind with ‘things.’ They manipulated and seduced people, even children, into buying their things. We were immersed in the cult of consumerism, believing, as they told us, ‘You are what you buy.’ 4) Capitalists’ occupation transitioned to assimilation when they started to identify human beings as ‘consumers.’ Compliant human beings consumed the identity. In consuming it, capitalists were more devious with us than we might realize. They were turning human beings into things. We are objects for capitalists to consume and excrete as just so much waste. Capitalists consume us for their plunder. Victory in the war on humanity could be claimed. People were things, while things, like corporations, are glorified as persons. So it is our jobs can be eliminated, while the stock market is heralded. Unlivable wages can be maintained while tax cuts are granted to the 1%. Capitalism’s Captains of Consciousness have no concern for Jesus’ wisdom from today’s Gospel, “Take care to guard against all greed.” Being wise, we are not greedy consumers but wise persons in touch with our soul.
“I CELEBRATE myself; … For every atom belonging to me, as good belongs to you. I loafe and invite my Soul; I lean and loafe at my ease, observing a spear of summer grass. … I and this mystery, here we stand. Clear and sweet is my Soul, and clear and sweet is all that is not my Soul. … Loafe with me on the grass—loose the stop from your throat; Not words, not music or rhyme I want—not custom or lecture, not even the best;… Dazzling and tremendous, how quick the sun-rise would kill me, If I could not now and always send sun-rise out of me. We also ascend, dazzling and tremendous as the sun; We found our own, O my Soul.” (Song of Myself – Walt Whitman)
Prayer: Spirit, raise our soul consciousness
Question: How do I starve consumerism and feed my soul?
August 04, 2019 Gospel Luke 12:13-21 Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time